Passive

1. THE PASSIVE
VOICE
M iguel Á ngel R odríguez L ópez

2. We use the Passive Voice when the
Agent is unknown or unimportant:
People speak English =
English is spoken all over the world.
They serve seafood in that restaurant =
Seafood is served in that restaurant.

3. Or to make the Object of the Active
Sentence more important:
Hamlet was written by Shakespeare.
A window has been broken.

4. From Active to Passive Voice:
ACTIVE:
Peter bought a car
PASSIVE:
A car was bought by Peter

5. CHANGES:
Active Object becomes Passive Subject:
A car
Verb “Be” in the same tense as Active
Verb + Active Verb in the Past
Participle: is bought
Subject: Agent with “BY”: by Peter (We
omit it when it isn’t relevant)

6. Check this chart:
He writes novels: Novels are written by him.
He is writing novels: Novels are BEING WRITTEN
He wrote novels: Novels were WRITTEN
He was writing novels: Novels were BEING WRITTEN
He has written novels: Novels have BEEN WRITTEN
He had written novels: Novels had BEEN WRITTEN
He can/ will/ may/ …write novels: Novels can/ will/ may BE
WRITTEN
He can/may / will/ have written
novels: Novels can/ may/ will HAVE
BEEN WRITTEN
.

7. Sentences with two Objects:
When the active sentence has two Objects
(verbs such as give, tell, send, …) :
Mary will tell you everything.
Joe has given me a present.
The INDIRECT OBJECT often becomes
the SUBJECT in the Passive:
You will be told everything by Mary.
I have been given a present by Joe.

8. Verbs like:
Believe, Think, Consider, Estimate, Know,
Expect, …
when followed by a subordinate clause:
They think that Joe is a good worker.
Change to:

9. 1) It + Passive Verb + Subordinate Clause:
It is thought that Joe is a good worker.
OR
2) Subordinate Subject + Passive Verb +
Subordinate Active Verb in Infinitive:
Joe is thought to be a good worker.

10. HAVE/ GET SOMETHING DONE (Causative Passive):
When you arrange to / pay for / etc.
someone else do a thing for you :
I had/got my hair cut (by the
hairdresser)
I’ve just had/got my car repaired (by a
mechanic).